Irving Maimway:Corvus: What would be hilarious is democrats in congress to put up a bill where anyone running for US president must show 10 years of tax returns AND their official birth certificate. Put republucans in a situation where they would look bad voting either way.

That is an epic level of political jujitsu. Problem is it would never get out of the House. It would sail through the Senate.

Romney released one year of tax returns and the results have been an unprecedented campaign of distortion and lies from liberals about it. He's going to release this years tax returns, and the results will be another campaign of distortions and lies from liberals. I'm terribly sorry if Romney isn't given you material to distort and lie about because you sure as hell can't run on Obama's record.

hey, he says federal taxes are holding back jobs. I'd like to see just how incumbered by federal taxes a wealthy job creator like Romney is.

Romney and the GOP are making the argument that the wealthy need a tax cut, the least Romney could do is show us what he's paying. You and I both know if he releases them and it turns out that he's paying little to nothing in fed taxes this 'tax cuts for job creators' myth is going to take a big hit, and frankly that's been the GOP mantra for quite a while...sorta unravels the whole clothe the GOP has made.

if this bothers you you're really going to hate the next couple of months.

Corvus:What would be hilarious is democrats in congress to put up a bill where anyone running for US president must show 10 years of tax returns AND their official birth certificate. Put republucans in a situation where they would look bad voting either way.

badhatharry:An IRS employee or McCain could be the source. More likely Reid is just a liar.

Let's assume for just a moment that he is. Where is the benefit in letting this smolder? How does this help Romney? Is he expecting some sort of sympathy bump because all of the mean old Democrats are picking on him? How does this help him?

It's hilarious seeing the spin coming from the "Why doesn't Obama just release it" crowd. They all claimed if he just released it they'd be satisfied and he must be hiding something awful, blah blah. Now all Romney has to do is release his documents, the same as everyone for the past 40 years has done, and he's stonewalling.

I was under the impression that he didn't so much say it was untrue as say "I paid exactly what I was supposed to pay!"

No, he said it was a lie, completely untrue then hypothesized that the information came from the White House. To me, that last bit is funny. The executive branch runs the Treasury and, of course, the Treasury knows how much Romney paid. So, if that infomation that Romney paid zero taxes came from the White House, it may well be true.

Romney is farked if this story is true. Reid is one thing but a news source also saying it's true is going to make it 10 worse. And now Romney is on record saying it is untrue.

This is CNN we're talking about. I wouldn't exactly call them news any more.

But but but CNN is trying so hard. Really they are. Please at least give them credit for trying. At least they are honestly trying to report news and not deliver propoganda like FOX.

They aren't really trying. They repeat the talking points sent to them and whatever they get off twitter. They are incredibly lazy. This story is just as likely from @realinformantninja as from a legitimate source.

Romney released one year of tax returns and the results have been an unprecedented campaign of distortion and lies from liberals about it. He's going to release this years tax returns, and the results will be another campaign of distortions and lies from liberals. I'm terribly sorry if Romney isn't given you material to distort and lie about because you sure as hell can't run on Obama's record.

Wrong. I didn't care about his 13-14% income tax in 2010. It was a little on the low side for my tastes, but I really didn't care until he flat out refused to reveal the other years. It has become standard practice for presidential candidates to release a decade's worth of tax returns, and I see no reason for him to not follow the standard practice.

If Obama refused to release his returns you know that the GOP would be spitting blood.

Kevin72:unexplained bacon: FishStampede: Derp up there does actually bring up a good point, that the oft-used argument about people who pay zero federal income tax is they still pay other taxes like sales tax, social security, etc. If Mitt paid zero income tax, it's true he still probably paid taxes everywhere. Unless he managed to completely write off his homes as churches, buy everything online but have a minion pick it up from the distributor thus avoiding S&H, etc. That would just be completely silly.

We can be outraged about him not paying INCOME taxes at his level of wealth, but we do have to acknowledge he put into the pot somewhere along the way, even if he might have put a ten in but taken a buck or two back out and snickered as he walked away.

actually since Romney is arguing that we need to cut federal income taxes for the wealthy because those taxes are slowing down the job creators then the fact that he pays little to none is what's really important here.

the GOP really picked the wrong guy to make their latest trickle down economics BS argument.

HeartBurnKid:imontheinternet: Her anonymous "credible source" confirmed that some guy is saying that Romney paid 0 taxes. This is a bullshiat non-story. When somebody is ready to go on the record in front of a camera, you've got a story, until then leave it alone.

As we all know, responsible reporters only report what's on record. That's why we knew the identity of Deep Throat from day 1.

Woodward and Bernstein didn't shout from a mountaintop that Nixon ordered Watergate based on anonymous sources with no independent confirmation.

I don't give the Romney campaign a lot of credit, but this could be a smart ploy to undermine the democrats' tax argument if and when Romney releases his tax returns. For instance, if Romney paid very little in taxes, that will look bad for him. But if he can plant a source spreading the rumor that he paid zero taxes and if key democratic people run with this idea (and cnn keeps reporting wishy-washy articles like this one), then when he actually does release his tax returns he gets to say "see! I paid taxes just like everyone else. The democrats have been saying all along that I paid zero taxes which is clearly untrue." The fact that he paid egregiously low taxes compared to everyone else will be mitigated by the fact that the democrats were caught speculating. It wont completely cure Romney of the tax return issue but at least it wont be quite as devastating a blow to his campaign.

Politics is a blood sport. The opposition would rather put Romney in the situation where they let him die from a self inflicted death by a thousand cuts. He is the only one that can make this stop and they know it. This is why you have people on his side of the fence telling him to release the records now. Otherwise, your opponent can continue to define you. It's sort of like when people refuse to be interviewed by the media. If you don't give your side they can feel free to paint it all from the other side. Not nice, not pretty, reality.

Dimensio:As I have stated previously: until President Obama releases his complete educational transcripts from kindergarten through college, admission applications for the same, his entire medical history, the entire medical history of his mother, the microfilm of his birth certificate and every passport that he has ever used ever, then requests for Mr. Romney's tax returns are not reasonable and hypocritical.

Funny that Mitt Romney is going to release LESS information about himself (tax returns, birth certificates) than Obama.

what_now:dr_blasto: Those two things he has have taken him to the convention as the presumptive nominee. If he comes out of the convention as the nominee, he's in till election day.

Oh for Christ's sake. RONPAUL is not getting the nomination.

What?

I only responded to the other Farker's daydreaming about Romney dropping out after the convention. That will never happen. If this tax thing shows something REALLY bad (like the amnesty stuff or flat-out cheating) then there's a chance he drops out before getting an actual nomniation. But, even if Romney's tax stuff is the worst case it could be the likelyhood of his ego allowing him to drop out is infinitesimally small.

And, you're correct in the fact the Texas' resident neo-confederate gynecologist isn't ever going to be a nominee.

That was hilarious. It's like he was saying "You should believe the words that are coming out of my mouth despite never having demonstrated a modicum of honesty in my life before, but you should not believe Reid, demand proof from him! Demand that he prove that I paid no taxes, despite the only way he can even do that is by me releasing my returns. LOL I'm so clever nobody will question my logic because I'm so awesome, the most awesome person who ever lived. Now excuse me while I shove more hundred dollar bills up my butt."

Vlad_the_Inaner:sprawl15: I'm starting to wonder if Romney is a liberal plant and his campaign is complex performance art: a Life of Brian-esque satire of rich people.

"What did the rich people ever build for us?"

"Roads?"

"Nope"

"Bridges"

"Nope"

It's really sad. The rich get all selfish and reflexively opt to go galt, when they have an incredible opportunity here to earn the honor and respect of their less-well-off countrymen. Think about it - some of them could get together and form a group dedicated to using their abundant wealth to change public policy so that they pay more taxes to the point where we have no other choise but to respect them for their sacrifice in providing for a better country. Or simply refuse to wait until then and start funding projects privately that benefit the public - shift from hiding funds offshore to hiring strictly american companies with strictly american workers to build american infrastructure.

Like FDR - he was the spoiled son of a rich banker who became a rich banker himself (surprise?) but then did the opposite of what these rich farks want and instituted the New Deal. Then Eisenhower - a rich man in his own right - expanded some new deal programs and instated SS and the highway system. And they're considered heroes of the American people.

Instead of being scorned for shunning the 'dirty poors' and stacking the deck in their favor while watching our infrastructure crumble and our people starve, they could change this country into the shining bastion that we all blindly proclaim it to be.

imontheinternet:HeartBurnKid: imontheinternet: Her anonymous "credible source" confirmed that some guy is saying that Romney paid 0 taxes. This is a bullshiat non-story. When somebody is ready to go on the record in front of a camera, you've got a story, until then leave it alone.

As we all know, responsible reporters only report what's on record. That's why we knew the identity of Deep Throat from day 1.

Woodward and Bernstein didn't shout from a mountaintop that Nixon ordered Watergate based on anonymous sources with no independent confirmation.

FTFWiki: "Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deep into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House."

Rann Xerox:I wonder if anyone out there who wanted to be Romney's VP pick is suddenly having a change of heart.

You're assuming that anyone wanted to be his VP pick. I'm reminded of the old Firesign Theater bit about a kamikaze training session. After a detailed description of just exactly how the mission will be performed, the Commander asks "are there any questions?". A hand goes up in the back of the room, and a pilot asks "are you farking crazy?".

insano:I don't give the Romney campaign a lot of credit, but this could be a smart ploy to undermine the democrats' tax argument if and when Romney releases his tax returns. For instance, if Romney paid very little in taxes, that will look bad for him. But if he can plant a source spreading the rumor that he paid zero taxes and if key democratic people run with this idea (and cnn keeps reporting wishy-washy articles like this one), then when he actually does release his tax returns he gets to say "see! I paid taxes just like everyone else. The democrats have been saying all along that I paid zero taxes which is clearly untrue." The fact that he paid egregiously low taxes compared to everyone else will be mitigated by the fact that the democrats were caught speculating. It wont completely cure Romney of the tax return issue but at least it wont be quite as devastating a blow to his campaign.

No, all Obama has to do is run an ad saying "Mitt Romney paid 3% in taxes. You paid 25%. Now Mitt Romney wants to raise your taxes so that he can cut his even further. Don't you think Romney and his fat-cat friends should be paying their fair share?"

insano:I don't give the Romney campaign a lot of credit, but this could be a smart ploy to undermine the democrats' tax argument if and when Romney releases his tax returns. For instance, if Romney paid very little in taxes, that will look bad for him. But if he can plant a source spreading the rumor that he paid zero taxes and if key democratic people run with this idea (and cnn keeps reporting wishy-washy articles like this one), then when he actually does release his tax returns he gets to say "see! I paid taxes just like everyone else. The democrats have been saying all along that I paid zero taxes which is clearly untrue." The fact that he paid egregiously low taxes compared to everyone else will be mitigated by the fact that the democrats were caught speculating. It wont completely cure Romney of the tax return issue but at least it wont be quite as devastating a blow to his campaign.

I thought of that too, but it's very hard to predict how things will play out in the news cycles and public opinion. There's too many "ifs" for that to be a real plan.

Whether the Mittster paid taxes or no, this is at least as credible as the Birth Certificate thing, why can't THIS dominate the news for 2 or 3 years straight, give the Right a taste of their own medicine?

insano:but this could be a smart ploy to undermine the democrats' tax argument if and when Romney releases his tax returns.

If this is a rat-farking then Reid and Bash will rake the source over the coals. The story will be about Romney's false flag operation, sending a "highly credible" source to lie to elected officials and reporters.

Mikey1969:Whether the Mittster paid taxes or no, this is at least as credible as the Birth Certificate thing, why can't THIS dominate the news for 2 or 3 years straight, give the Right a taste of their own medicine?

This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the unemployment numbers for the month of July. While we were able to use statistical fudges to get the overal job growth number to 163,000 (a new "bikini graph" talking point update will be distributed shortly), the unemployment number rose to 8.3%. While we figure out why this was George W. Bush's fault, we need all of our loyal Cheerleaders to keep on working to distract the American people.

That means you need to milk Sen. Reid's tax accusations for a few more days until our crack Distractions Unit comes up with a new accusation against Mitt Romney. We've had one of our top CNN agents try to fan the flames for a little bit longer, but we need all of you to continually flog your approved Cheerleader Talking Points at least through the weekend.

Remember, our Cheerleading Squad is crucial to our efforts at districting the American electorate from the state of the economy so that Barack Obama can spent at least another four years in the White House. So keep up the blogging, make sure that you forward all the Daily Kos and TPM stories to your friends and posting them on Facebook, Twitter, and for the three of you on Google Plus you might as well do that too. Dear Leader President Obama is counting on your support!

P.S. While we appreciate the enthusiasm for emulating the President, we would like to remind our Cheerleaders that a "hot dog roast" should only involve processed meat products, and not real dogs.

Wait, you say, that "memo" is a total fake with no basis in reality! Well, prove that it's fake then!

I could tell it was fake because it didn't ask for 3$ for a chance win lunch with Barry and Michelle. Also, it didn't try to pretend we were on a first name basis even though we've never met.

How stupid is Harry Reid to double down on this stuff? There is, simply, no way that he did not pay any income tax over the last ten years. This will not increase the call for Mitt to release his returns, plus it's just disingenuous. He knows better than to take some guy's word for it at Bain. Now, when Mitt releases the returns, any amount of tax paid will have overcome the incredibly high burden that Reid just set. Why, oh why, must the Democrats insist on snatching defeat at every opportunity?

There's mild chatter in the Freep-verse that the person could be the one and only Sarah Palin (which is theoretically possible, via the McCain campaign), as a means the rise to power at the convention.

qorkfiend:imontheinternet: HeartBurnKid: imontheinternet: Her anonymous "credible source" confirmed that some guy is saying that Romney paid 0 taxes. This is a bullshiat non-story. When somebody is ready to go on the record in front of a camera, you've got a story, until then leave it alone.

As we all know, responsible reporters only report what's on record. That's why we knew the identity of Deep Throat from day 1.

Woodward and Bernstein didn't shout from a mountaintop that Nixon ordered Watergate based on anonymous sources with no independent confirmation.

FTFWiki: "Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deep into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House."

FTFWiki: "During this early period, most of the media failed to grasp the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 Presidential election. After the revelation that one of the convicted burglars wrote to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level coverup, the media shifted its focus."

Bungles:There's mild chatter in the Freep-verse that the person could be the one and only Sarah Palin (which is theoretically possible, via the McCain campaign), as a means the rise to power at the convention.

More_Like_A_Stain:Corvus: What would be hilarious is democrats in congress to put up a bill where anyone running for US president must show 10 years of tax returns AND their official birth certificate. Put republucans in a situation where they would look bad voting either way.

How can it possibly look worse than to have the son of the man that initiated the tradition be the first to refuse to honor it in nearly half of a century?

The person that started that tradition was George Romney who was an excellent Republican governor of Michigan. George Romney who had an exemplary business career before being governor consolidating Kelvinator, Nash, Packard, and other companies into American Motors. Presciently insisting on the smaller car niche. Rescued businesses, synergized them, saved and created jobs.

imontheinternet:qorkfiend: imontheinternet: HeartBurnKid: imontheinternet: Her anonymous "credible source" confirmed that some guy is saying that Romney paid 0 taxes. This is a bullshiat non-story. When somebody is ready to go on the record in front of a camera, you've got a story, until then leave it alone.

As we all know, responsible reporters only report what's on record. That's why we knew the identity of Deep Throat from day 1.

Woodward and Bernstein didn't shout from a mountaintop that Nixon ordered Watergate based on anonymous sources with no independent confirmation.

FTFWiki: "Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deep into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House."

FTFWiki: "During this early period, most of the media failed to grasp the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 Presidential election. After the revelation that one of the convicted burglars wrote to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level coverup, the media shifted its focus."

Romney released one year of tax returns and the results have been an unprecedented campaign of distortion and lies from liberals about it. He's going to release this years tax returns, and the results will be another campaign of distortions and lies from liberals. I'm terribly sorry if Romney isn't given you material to distort and lie about because you sure as hell can't run on Obama's record.

Unprecedented? I don't that that means what you think it means.

Whar birf certfic, whar?/whattabout his grade school records!/first college paper!